


Observation

by orphan_account



Series: Mega's Mission to write Mega Cliches [2]
Category: Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, EVERYONE - Freeform, Fluff, M/M, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, lab partners au, listen everyone is gonna be friends in this au, ryley and avery are friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-10-31 06:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17844251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Observations were an essential part of the project Ryley and Bart had agreed to work on. Finding the names of organisms, keeping record of its interactions with other organisms, classifying them based on behaviors, and so much more were key components to their research.Did observing your lab partner’s smile or observing the intricacies in their laughter count towards research? Ryley sure hoped so, because otherwise, he hadn't been productive in the slightest.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> listen. theres like nothing on their characters. if anyone can send me some fanon first names or just a characterization guide that would be swell

Partnerwork was an essential part of science, according to Ryley’s biology teacher. And he could subscribe to that belief. After all, labs were done with a team of people, not just one person. No one person could specialize in everything. Not to mention all the peer review that went on after a study was published.

But forcing two people to work together for a project that would take up the majority of the year? Even if the teacher tempted them with the ability to choose their own topic, that was a hard turn on Nope Lane from him.

The uncertainty of the partnerships for the project sent eyeballs flittering around the room, everyone taking note of who they hoped to be with or would drop the class than be with. Right off the bat, Ryley noticed Yu making aggressive eye contact with Berkeley, and Danby’s eyes shifting every split second, his gaze more inconsistent than a drunk’s handwriting. Everyone else either didn’t care enough to look up or were eyeing the top students of the class.

Ryley was comforted at least a little by the fact he definitely knew who he would  _ not _ work with. And that person just happened to be staring at him that moment.

Avery Quinn, his best friend and partner in crime. They had originally been in the abyss between strangers and acquaintances, making no more contact than giving the other a quick nod at the gym or making eye contact in the halls. Then last year, they had been lab partners in a chemistry class and were given a sheet with directions on it. While Ryley tried to read the instructions, Avery had said, “To hell with the instructions!” and dumped chemicals into beakers depending on what felt right to him. It resulted in an explosion (because of course), and the two were given detention. Avery, to his credit, later apologized for dragging him into the mess and offered to pay him back with lunch. And since then, the two were close friends.

“Why are you guys looking at each other so much when you know you don’t have a choice?” their teacher laughed. “Projecting the partnerships in three, two, one…”

The screen lit up, revealing a document with the class’s names typed onto it. The room fell silent as people squinted at the screen.

_ Ozzy and Danby, that’s gonna be fun to watch… Yu and Quinn… Berkeley and Keen… Robinson and Torgal? _

Ryley’s gaze swept over Yu and Avery glaring at each other with the intensity of the sun (whose partnership would probably lead to worse things than the explosion incident) and Berkeley awkwardly offering a wave to Keen (good lord, even  _ he _ felt embarrassed just watching them) before falling on his partner.

Bart Torgal, the most likely candidate for the position of their school’s valedictorian and the consecutive winner of every Science Olympiad competition he’s entered. From what Ryley had seen, he mostly kept to himself but was constantly dragged outside his comfort zone by his friends, often being forced to be the spokesman for his friend group when he clearly wasn’t comfortable with the position. But he  _ was  _ comfortable with biology.

Ryley blinked, and the image of Bart waving at him and offering him a kind smile came into focus. Ryley offered the same back.

Maybe this project wouldn’t be so bad.

 

* * *

 

“Man, can you believe I got paired with Yu of all people?” Avery grumbled, kicking his feet against the pavement as he walked home. “The teacher knows we don’t get along. Everyone knows we don’t get along.”

Ryley shrugged. “Hey, at least she’s good at science.”

“She’s good at  _ everything. _ Give it two weeks, and she’ll be done with the project, then she’ll drag me into one of her ridiculous stunts to impress the teacher. I don’t understand her. Why do more than you need to?”

Again, Ryley shrugged and allowed his friend to continue ranting.

“... Anyway, that’s enough of me,” Avery said, “Have you and Torgal gotten started on the project yet?”

“Why would we have? It’s the first day of the project, and it wasn’t even a work day.”

“I don’t know, you’re both nerds. I figured I should ask.”

Ryley smacked the back of Avery’s head. “Just because I’m captain of the robotics team doesn’t mean I’m a nerd. And if it did, you’re a nerd, too. Which one of us is building an entire robot with only five other people?”

“Listen, the Sunbeam will win the entire competition, just watch—”

“Doubt it.”

The two continued walking home, the project soon forgotten in their mirth and laughter.

 

* * *

 

It was a day Ryley both looked forward to and dreaded: the first project work day. Most of his classmates had been paired with enemies or strangers, and it showed in the silence inside the classroom.

Their teacher raised an eyebrow from her computer. “Are you guys feeling okay? Like, do we need naptime or something?”

A sea of agreement rose from the class.

“Well, too bad. I didn’t get it approved ahead of time. Go sit with your partners.”

Grumbles rose throughout the classroom as people got up from their seats. Papers shuffled, and chairs scratched against the tiled floor.

Bart pulled a chair out and seated himself next to Ryley. “Good afternoon, Robinson. Do you mind if I sit here?”

_ Why would I mind? You’re my lab partner, _ were Ryley’s immediate thoughts, but he shrugged instead of voicing them aloud.

“Thank you.” Bart set his papers on the table. “So, have you thought about what you wanted to do for our project?”

Ryley blinked before shaking his head.

“That’s alright. I was thinking, if it wasn’t too much trouble, maybe we could… make a database of our environment?” A pause. “Not that we need to do that, of course,” Bart added after Ryley’s silence. “It was just an idea I’ve been playing with for a while.”

Yet again, Ryley shrugged. “I’m not opposed to it.”

“... You’re not?”

“No.”

Bart chuckled, his laughter airy and delighted. “Then I look forward to working with you. I’ve already collected some data on the creatures near my house. It’s in this binder, if you would like to see it.”

Ryley laid a dark blue binder flat on the table and flipped through it, careful not to bend any of the corners.

Colored tabs separated plants and animals (though Ryley noted there was a section for fungi as well). Entries began with a picture of the organism being studied, followed by a description of its appearance and behaviors. Additional features were described in a list format underneath. An assessment (which seemed to be more of a TL;DR) was provided at the very end.

“This is really well done,” Ryley said, closing the binder after reading the last entry.

Bart blinked. “Really? Thank you. I’ve spent a lot of time on it.”

“Are you sure you want me helping out with this? I’m not too good with biology, so I might mess something u—”

“Of course I am,” Bart said, almost incredulous that Ryley had suggested differently. “This is a behemoth of a project. I need all the assistance I can get.”

Ryley still had his doubts but nodded anyway. There was no point trying to change a mind that refused to listen. “So what do you want me to do, take pictures of some animals? Videotape them?”

“That would be marvelous, actually. Thank you for your help.”

“No problem, I guess.”

And from then on, Ryley allowed Bart to ramble about the geography of the environment around them and how many creatures there were bound to be hiding beneath the pine in the forest, underneath the rushing water of the river, maybe some even making their homes between the walls of human buildings.

Ryley found himself smiling by the time the dismissal bell rang. It was impossible to not be infected by the positive force that was Bart Torgal.

 

* * *

 

“Those fuckers said our robot was tippy. Tippy! I’ll show them who’s fucking tippy, I swear—”

“I’m gonna need you to calm down a little bit before emailing them again,” Ryley said, placing a hand on one of his club member’s shoulders. “Could you ask Jennifer to help you write it? I want her to get more experience in the field.”

The teammate huffed but followed instructions, standing up from their seat and storming off to find Jennifer.

Avery whistled and set his elbow on Ryley’s shoulder. “Smooth work, Captain. Almost as smooth as me avoiding Yu.”

Ryley raised an eyebrow. Dread built up in his stomach. “Why are you bringing her up? I thought you hated Yu.”

“I do. She’s here. Said she needed something more challenging to do, then snatched my robotics papers out of my hand and demanded to know when a meeting was.”

“You couldn’t just lie to her?”

“She found the calendar.”

“Oh.” Ryley brushed Avery’s hand off his shoulder and scanned the robotics room, taking note of each person, their position, and which part of the robot they had in their hands. “Then I should speak to her.”

Avery’s jaw dropped. “What? No. Absolutely not.”

“I’m the captain, it’s my job. Besides, she would be a valuable asset to the team.”

“You just want to piss me off.”

“That’s a bonus.” Ryley addressed Avery with one last salute before almost immediately bumping into who he was looking for. “Oh. Hello, Yu, what brings you to the robotics room?”

Yu’s expression was blank, almost bored as she stared down at her fingernails. “Needed something to entertain me. I heard you lot build robots for competition.”

“Yes, that’s what the robotics team does. We build robots.”

“Huh. Who would’ve thought?”

Their conversation was stilted, stiff. There wasn’t much from Ryley’s dialogue that Yu could twist into something else with the blunt way he spoke, and there wasn’t much room for Ryley to crack jokes, as he was speaking with someone who was essentially a stranger.

Yet somehow Ryley must have made a good impression, since Yu took his hand and shook it with a firm grip and a smile. “I’m on your team. What should I do?”

Ryley blinked. Well, that was an unexpected development. Normally he would ask Avery to show them around the room, him being the second in command and all, but Avery would have his head if he stuck them together for any longer.

But then again, he hasn’t died just yet, and if this was how he went, so be it.

“Avery!” Ryley called, smothering a grin that threatened to rise to his lips. The grin escaped upon seeing the look of disbelief on the other’s face. “Show Yu around the robotics room, will you? It’s your responsibility as second in command.”

“Second in command?” Yu mused.

“Unbelievable, I know.”

Avery stayed silent, but the message in his glaring eyes was overwhelmingly obvious:  _ Ryley, I’m going to kill you for this later. _

Ryley sent him a smirk as Avery reluctantly introduced Yu to the various parts of building a robot.

The walk home with him was not fun.

 

* * *

 

_ “Something incredible just happened. _

_ Since we were assigned a project in biology class anyway, I thought it might be a smart idea to continue the database officially as a project rather than just as a hobby. I suggested such to my lab partner, and he actually agreed! He even agreed to take some footage of the creatures near the river for me. They were so beautiful last time I visited… I really should have brought my camera with me then. _

_ Though my lab partner’s response was quite unexpected. Cindy described him as a sort of quiet but headstrong fellow. Someone who firmly believed his ideas were best. She was certainly correct about the quiet part, but… he smiled at me. He said my work was good. I don’t know why I allowed Cindy’s description to convince me this project wouldn’t go well. She’s too busy dragging Quinn into her own projects to pay attention to much else, I’m sure. _

_ I wonder if Robinson would ever let me call him by his first name. Maybe when we become better friends.” _


	2. Chapter 2

After Avery had cooled down from the whole “You fucking trapped me with Yu!” tantrum (which took longer than he liked to admit), his focus on the biology project steadily grew until he was pestering Ryley to divulge what his own project was about. Ryley would have been happy to do so if Avery wasn’t just so goddamn annoying about it.

“Hey, Robinson,” Avery barked, poking at his shoulder when they were stopped near a large tree. “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing for your project.”

Ryley sighed and tapped on his phone screen. The screen soon showed a snapshot of a bird snapping its beak around an unlucky bug. “So I’m downgraded to Robinson?”

“For the time being.”

“Ugh, fine. My last name just sounds weird coming from you.” Ryley slipped his phone into his back pocket with a sigh. “Torgal and I are working on a database for our environment. You know, with all the plants and animals here.”

“Really? That’s it?”

“I don’t see you doing anything better, Quinn.”

“Okay, let’s stop it with the last name business,” Avery said, “Yu and I still haven’t agreed on what to do, but it’s going to be great.”

Ryley raised an eyebrow. Last time he said that about a project, he ended up pulling several consecutive all-nighters, ending his procrastination streak by downing three cans of coffee and mumbling something about Machiavelli while Ryley shielded Avery’s eyes from the blinding lights of their school with a flexible ruler. And as a result of that, Avery missed out on several important math lessons. Avery wasn’t stupid by any means, but catching him up on the material had been like trying to teach a corpse to breakdance.

“I can feel you about to bring up me doing something stupid,” Avery grumbled. “Don’t do it. I can fire back with five more.”

Ryley shrugged, taking out his phone for another picture. The threat was serious, and both of them knew it, especially with the idiot he was with his health _(“What do you mean you forgot to sleep for two days?”_ was an alarmingly common phrase directed at him _)_. It wasn’t evident from watching them and Ryley would sooner jump into lava than admit it, but Avery was probably the more responsible one out of the two of them.

“I don’t know why you won’t just ask the teacher for ideas,” Ryley said.

“That’s admitting defeat. If there’s one thing Yu and I can agree on, it’s that we don’t want to take some random idea.”

“... Right.”

Avery glanced over Ryley’s shoulder, something that didn’t prove too difficult with their height difference. “Wow, you have over a hundred shots already? Who are you trying to impress?”

“Nobody. I just want to be able to brag when I get a higher grade than you.”

“Hey, my project is going to be amazing! Just you watch, Ryley! But, uh… I kind of need an idea first.”

Ryley allowed Avery to bounce ideas off him while he took shots of the wilderness. He had never thought too much about the “beauty of nature” or whatever outside resort advertisements had tried to sell to him prior to the project, but looking at the light glinting off the surface of a rushing river or birds plucking leaves off tree branches with a kind of deliberate precision…

Maybe there was something more to nature than he had originally anticipated.

 

* * *

 

“Where did you get these shots?” Bart asked, his voice soft and his incredulity evident as he flipped through the pages on pages of photographs Ryley had printed out. His eyes were wide, drinking in the vivid colors painted on the page. Just seeing his amazement made Ryley’s heart feel warm.

“I shot most of them at the river, but I also just took some around my house,” Ryley said.

“You managed to capture all of this just at one spot?”

“Yes…?”

Bart continued flipping through the pages before reaching a picture of a pink snake slinking through a hole drilled in the middle of a pinker, jelly-like mushroom. His lips curled into a fond smile. “Ah, the crabsnake! They were my favorite to study back in middle school.”

“Crabsnake?”

“Yes. Though they surprisingly have little to do with crabs.” He pointed at the mushroom. The single action was deliberate, energetic. “They ambush their prey as it tries to feed on the mushrooms they hide in. What they don’t eat settles on the earth, which fertilizes the mushrooms, which feeds the herbivores, and so the chain continues.” Giggles bubbled from his throat. It was like watching a child open a present. “Co-evolution gives me the fuzzies.”

His excitement was so infectious Ryley found himself biting back his own smile, yet a chuckle still managed to escape from him. When he looked up from the binder, he found himself meeting eyes with Bart, who gazed at him with almost as much wonder as when they were scouring through the pictures. So many emotions flickered in his eyes that it was impossible to catch any of them.

“Is there something wrong?” Ryley asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

That seemed to snap Bart out of his trance. He blinked and shook his head fervently. “No, no. Nothing’s wrong.”

“Are you sure—”

“Yes. Absolutely.” Bart cleared his throat and averted his eyes, pink dusting across his cheeks. “Thank you for your work. I will get to assessing them right away.”

“... Alright. Do you want me to do anything else?”

Bart didn’t answer, the lower half of his face obscured by his hand. He hung his head. It was as if he was… embarrassed by something?

_Did I do something wrong?_

 

* * *

 

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Avery sputtered, face scrunched into his usual _Are you fucking kidding me?_ expression. “What gave you that idea?”

“Well, when your lab partner suddenly doesn’t talk to you for the rest of class, what else are you supposed to think?”

“Something other than _that._ ”

The two’s argument stopped when they opened the doors to the pool room. It was after school on a Thursday, meaning it wasn’t as crowded as it would usually be on other days. Attending the gym together was one of their more-than-weekly hangout sessions. Even though they didn’t spend much time actually standing near each other, it was reassuring to know someone else had their back should something go awry.

But swim days weren’t like their usual days. They often featured either Avery yelling at Ryley to fix his swimming posture or Ryley yelling at Avery to speed up. Both of them certainly learned to be better swimmers while they were with each other, but that didn’t mean the experience was pleasant.

Ryley took a moment to scan their surroundings while Avery slipped his goggles on and adjusted the straps.

A mother with two young children were on the other side of the pool, so swearing was off-limits for that day. A group of teenagers—presumably from another school since Ryley couldn’t recognize them—stood in front of the locker rooms. And a few lanes from them was… Bart Torgal?

Black hair shaved on the sides and swept back in the front, kind smile, starry, distracted gaze… It was definitely Bart.

Ryley turned around back and walked towards the exit.

“Wait… Ryley, where are you going?” Avery managed to catch Ryley’s wrist just before he could swing the door open. “We haven’t even started yet and you’re noping out? I know my lessons are pretty intense, but you know you can always tell me when it gets too tough. I didn’t imagine you would—”

“Avery, you’re blind. My lab partner’s here. I don’t like seeing people I know at the gym.”

“So? You were completely fine when Keen came in and used the treadmill right next to yours.”

“It’s not the same.”

Avery stopped. He faced forward with his eyes darted to the side, trying to observe Bart without his staring being too obvious. “... Is this because he’s not wearing a shirt? This better not be just because he’s not wearing a shirt. We’re in a damn swimming pool, for god’s sake.”

“It’s not!”

“Listen, can you have a gay panic some other time? I really need to get some cardio in, and I need your help for—Oh, lord, he’s coming this way.”

“Robinson! Quinn! Fancy seeing you two here,” came Bart’s voice. When Ryley turned around, he still wore a kind smile as always.

“Nice to see you too, I guess,” Avery mumbled. “I didn’t know you swam. Why aren’t you in the school’s swim team?”

“Competition doesn’t really interest me.”

“Then do you mind if I ask why you swim?”

Bart went silent. His gaze darted back and forth between different tiles on the ground before finally meeting Avery’s with a new fire in his eyes. “I want to be strong enough to swim with fish in the ocean.”

_Jesus, this guy’s a nerd._

How could a response be so surprisingly yet not at the same time?

Ryley laughed. “Why am I not surprised? Of course you would say something like that, Torgal.”

Again, Bart’s gaze bored into him with the same intensity as in class. Then just as soon as he was drawn into a trance, he snapped out of it, his head tilting down. “Oh, and… I would like to apologize for my behavior in class today. My silence was rude and uncalled for..”

“It’s fine,” Ryley said. At least he was sure he hadn’t done anything to warrant the silence. “I’m sure you had your reasons.”

Avery cleared his throat before the silence between them could become awkward. “We should probably get to actually swimming soon. The lifeguard’s giving us major side eye.”

“O-Oh, of course,” Bart said, his smile sheepish. He bid them one last farewell before leaping back into the pool with the grace of crabsnake slithering back into its home mushroom. His movements in the water were well-practiced but not mechanical. It was almost like watching a dancer in a ballroom—elegant, artistic, beautiful.

Avery clapped him on the back, drawing him out of his thoughts. “You can ogle him later. For now, you need to drill me.”

Ryley furrowed his eyebrows. “I wasn’t ogling, it’s just interesting watching him swim.”

“Sure. Just get in the pool, loser.”

Before Ryley could move, Avery raised his leg and kicked the middle of his back, sending him stumbling into the pool and finally landing on the water’s surface with a loud splash.

Ryley surfaced, anger and disbelief etched on his face. “What the heck, Avery?”

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you didn’t avoid that,” Avery said, holding his stomach as he laughed hysterically. Tears began to form in the tips of his eyes.

Then Ryley grabbed Avery’s ankle and dragged him into the water. He ducked back into the water to avoid the resulting splash.

A few seconds later, they both surfaced, and Ryley grinned at Avery’s unamused expression.

 

* * *

 

“-binson… Robinson!”

Ryley snapped out of his thoughts and whipped around to the teammate calling his name. “Yes, Yu?”

Yu regarded him as a mother would to a child being scolded, with folded arms and an expression demanding an explanation. “It took me ten years to get your attention. You’re not usually so lost in your thoughts. What’s up?”

“What would _you_ know about him?” Avery growled.

“Shut it, Quinn.”

Ryley raised his palms in front of his chest, bringing both of them to a silence. “Both of you, stop. If you’re going to be teammates, you need to learn how to work together.”

“I’m working on the Sunbeam, she’s on the Aurora. Totally different robots,” Avery grumbled. Still, he allowed Ryley to continue.

“Sorry for not being as attentive as usual,” Ryley said, “I was just… thinking about something.”

“What could be so imperative that it distracts you from your duties as captain?” Yu asked.

Then Avery smirked, and Ryley instantly regretted everything he had done for the last year of his life. “Ryley… you’re not thinking about Torgal again, are you?”

Yu’s jaw dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s not like that!” Ryley said. Lord, he could feel his cheeks already heating up. He was going to kill Avery later. “We happened to see each other at the pool yesterday. That’s all. Avery, you saw him, too.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t the one who was staring at him the entire time,” Avery snickered.

“Aw, does our little team captain have a crush?” Yu cooed, her fingers dangerously close to his cheeks.

“No, that’s stupid.” Ryley’s gaze shifted between the two, and he squinted his eyes. “Aren’t you two supposed to hate each other? What happened to not teaming up against me?”

“We’re not ganging up on you,” Yu said, “We’re helping you.”

Ryley sighed again for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. “Just get back to work.”

Yu lazily saluted him and returned to her workspace.

“Avery, I hate you,” Ryley said. There was no real malice in his voice, but it was just prickly enough to make Avery tense.

Avery shrugged. “Sorry, but revenge is revenge. Bet you’re real sorry for sticking me with Yu all the time now.”

“Honestly? Not really."

“... Did I overstep this time?”

“No, I don’t really care what Yu thinks. Just get back to work.” Right as Avery turned to retreat to his station, Ryley added, “And be sure to tell Yu about how the competition works. That’s coming up soon.”

Avery glared back at him bitterly but redirected his path towards Yu.

Ryley sighed and held his head in his hands. What was up with him? Despite their short time together, Yu had assumed correctly; if there was one time Ryley was completely focused, it was during robotics. So why was he so distracted?

It couldn’t have been because of Bart like Avery was accusing of him, right? It was just fascinating seeing him move through the water like he had been born in it. His observations resembled scientific notes—the muscles in his arms flexing as he swam, his skin almost glowing when he stepped out of the water, not to mention his short, black hair almost drooping like the plants he surrounded himself with…

Wait.

Ryley pushed his face further into his hands and screamed silently.

Now was not a good time to realize his lab partner was hot.

 

* * *

 

_YU: What? You’re telling me you think Robinson’s laugh is cute?_

_TORGAL: I never said that. I said he piques my interest, and his laughter just happened to be what led me to that discovery._

_YU: It’s not some kind of scientific discovery, it’s you finally finding something that “gives you the fuzzies” that isn’t a bunch of snakes in mushrooms._

_TORGAL: … You heard that?_

_YU: How could I miss the opportunity to tease my friend?_

_TORGAL: You’re cold, Cindy. And you have a look on your face that suggests you have a plan I won’t be too keen on._

_YU: Oh, come on, Bart, live a little! I’m already in the robotics club. I just need to drag you and Keith into it too, then everything will work out fine._

_TORGAL: Please don’t—_

_YU: Too late! I’ve already texted Keith. Guess you just have to stick with the plan now._

_TORGAL: Why are we friends again?_

 

* * *

 

_“At the beginning of the year, I was certain my only companions would be Cindy, Keith, and the plants growing in my room. Now that I’ve spoken to Robinson and Quinn a number of times, I’m not too sure about that anymore._

_Quinn is a humorous fellow, to say the least. Cindy recalls her experiences with him delightfully despite claiming to despise him. Once, she told me about how he wrote a paper for a history class comparing hyperinflation in Germany prior to World War II to World of Warcraft. And it worked, apparently…? But on the other hand, he can show a startlingly amount of maturity when needed. Cindy told me how one of his teammates in robotics almost crash landed their robot. Quinn took control and landed it safely. Instead of yelling at the teammate for being irresponsible, he said something about how nobody should rely on themselves when driving a robot, to rely on others as well. I’m not too sure what Cindy was saying behind the robotics jargon, though I get the feeling she was implying Quinn is a good second-in-command. Heh. So much for hating his guts. At this point, they might as well be friends._

_Robinson is… a different story. His behaviors are infinitely fascinating. A few days ago in biology class, he laughed for whatever reason, and it short-circuited my brain. A laugh! That is far too much power for one person to yield. I asked Marguerit about how such a thing could be possible, but she just made fun of me. Said something about me really still being a kid. So I asked Cindy about it, and she interpreted my words beyond what I imagined she would. And now Keith and I will inevitably be dragged to a robotics meeting next week. Poor Keith. I must apologize to him later._

_Robinson and Quinn are fun to observe on their own, but observing them together is even more fun. It’s amazing how in tune they are with each other despite only being friends for a year. And they’re constantly making each other laugh. It’s not good for my heart. But I wonder…_

_Is it selfish of me to wish I could make him laugh like that as well?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> throwback to my history teacher telling us about how his roommate in college did his senior thesis on comparing hyperinflation in germany to world of warcraft.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello. ive been on a hc spree lately. this chapter is as much of a mess as me.

It was getting more and more difficult to find new organisms.

Ryley smiled sheepishly upon dropping two printed photos on the table. “These two were the only new things I found. Sorry.”

Of course, Bart took them in all the same with the same kind smile he had since the beginning of their project. He dismissed Ryley’s words with a laugh. “Don’t worry about it, Robinson. Without your help, this project would have stagnated long ago.”

Still, Ryley couldn’t help but feel maybe he should be helping more. The thought of not being helpful burned into his mind. But was he really in any position to argue? He pursed his lips into a frown and nodded.

Bart’s eyes roamed over his face, his eyebrows furrowed. “If you really still want to help, we can walk to my house together after school. I was planning on searching for more fungi, since it seems our project is lacking in that department.”

That was true; there were only three pages of fungi at the most. The animals tab spanned the width of a bottlecap, and lord knew how many pages were in the plants tab. The binder would feel empty without the addition of more fungi.

Ryley was snapped out of his thoughts with a finger booping his nose and the image of a playful grin coming into focus.

“Don’t forget this is your project as well,” Bart said, beaming as brightly as a star. “Please don’t think of yourself as just an assistant. You’re my friend.”

It took a moment for the words to process, but when they did, Ryley’s heart jumped. “I am?”

Bart was still smiling, but the confident curve was crumbled into an uncertain, wavy line. “Um… I would certainly hope so? Not that you have to be, of cour—”

“No, I would love to be friends,” Ryley said.

“Are you sure? It’s completely understandable if you don’t.”

“If there’s one thing you need to know about me, Torgal, it’s that I don’t say things I don’t mean.”

“Then does that mean you’d be okay with calling me Bart?”

A silence passed over them, Ryley’s eyes wide and Bart mildly horrified at what had just come out of his mouth.

“... Sure,” Ryley said, trying to calm his heart, “but only if you call me by my first name, too.”

Bart blinked, then his face broke into a grin again. “I can certainly do that, Ryley. Thank you.”

Why did he agree to that? He knew the familiarity in a first name would be the death of him, but he still chose to allow it anyway. Regret screamed at him to take it back, but there was no going back now.

“You don’t need to thank me for something like this,” Ryley mumbled. “And I think if we want to get every species, we should do some research online on our area. Can you ask the teacher if we can go to the computer lab?”

Even as they continued working together, Ryley’s heart beat like he had downed four cans of energy drinks in one go like an idiot again. It didn’t feel like a panic attack either. So what was it?

He couldn’t let the questions consume him. He continued working as if his thoughts had never haunted him in the first place.

 

* * *

 

“Ryley, I need you to know that I love you with every fiber of my being. You’re my best friend. Probably one of the smartest, most innovative people I’ve ever met. But you’re such an idiot sometimes that it makes my head hurt.”

“Thanks, Avery.”

Historically, Avery had always had the most perspective on interpersonal issues while Ryley struggled to comprehend even his own emotions. Ryley supposed this was why he didn’t hesitate to tell him about this problem, but with the way Avery narrowed his eyes at him, maybe this wasn’t as good of an idea as he thought it was.

Avery softly screamed into his hands before taking a deep breath and locking eyes with Ryley. “Okay, let’s go over this again. Your heart won’t calm the fuck down around him. You really like his smile. And I know you didn’t say this, but you definitely think he’s attractive.”

“You’re right, I didn’t say that.”

“Well, it’s true, so I’m bringing it up anyway. I also happened to see you in biology, when you got all nervous about calling him by his first name. That’s adorable as shit, by the way—”

“Can you stay on topic?”

“Fine, fine. So combine all those emotions, and what do you get?”

Ryley paused to think, something he wasn’t very good at these days.

Avery’s eye twitched. It was clear he desperately wanted to say something but was struggling with an internal debate on whether he should or not. Luckily, he was saved from having to decide when his eyebrows furrowed and his gaze darted off in another direction. “Why’s Cindy staring at us?”

Ryley snapped his head in the direction Avery was looking at.

Yu didn’t seem fazed at having been caught staring. Instead, she smiled and waved while the other two at her table, Bart and Berkeley, seemed to have absorbed her embarrassment. Berkeley sighed and shook his head while Bart hid his face behind his hands, though some red still peeked out through the slits between his fingers.

Ryley blinked. “Did you really just call her Cindy?”

“I realized that calling her by her last name implies respect. I can’t have people thinking I respect her.”

“And it’s not because you two are friends now?”

“No.”

It was exceedingly obvious he was lying just from watching their interactions during robotics. Fifty percent of the time, they were ganging up on him for so much as breathing, and the other fifty percent, they were “exchanging information about mechanics” (read: slacking off). How they managed to get any work done was beyond Ryley, though he supposed he couldn’t complain if it finally got them to stop fighting every two minutes.

“Anyway,” Avery said, “This is something you’re gonna have to solve on your own. I’ve already given you all the clues I could.”

Ryley’s face was devoid of emotion as he nodded, but a storm raged inside his mind. The fact that Avery could so obviously try bludgeoning a truth into him but he still couldn’t reach a conclusion was alarming. On top of that, neither he nor Avery ever figured out why Yu was observing them or why Berkeley and Bart seemed so embarrassed about their friend being caught. Ryley had only been able to wrap his head around friendship a year ago—this was far too confusing for him to understand.

Then Yu approached their table with a mischievous smile, holding Bart’s wrist in an iron grip and dragging him along for whatever hell ride she was constructing. “Good afternoon, boys. Would you mind teaching my friend some principles of linear algebra?”

But math. Math, he could understand.

Avery leaned back in his chair, holding his palms up. “He’s all yours, Ryley. I don’t know shit about algebra.”

Bart sent a desperate look to Yu, who looked away. “I don’t really—”

“His poor grades are plummeting faster than the Sunbeam will during competition,” Yu said.

Avery popped out of his chair with narrowed eyes. “Excuse you, what—”

“Maybe decreasing even faster than Avery’s skills in robotics.”

“You take that back.”

“No.”

An argument rose between the two and lasted until Yu walked back to her table, tailed by an insulted Avery. She sat down on Berkeley’s right side, and Avery sat down on his left. The way Berkeley’s eyebrows furrowed when he stared at Yu indicated he knew what was going on but was powerless to stop it.

Math was always a constant, something he could depend on to be comfortable. But something still wasn’t adding up: Bart already seemed to know everything Yu claimed he needed help with and occasionally shot dirty looks at her, who watched with amusement from afar. Yet when he turned back to Ryley, his attitude was as pleasant and polite as it had always been.

Huh. Maybe he needed to recalculate his approach to things.

 

* * *

 

Bart’s house was right in the middle of a forest, something that Ryley should be surprised at but wasn’t. And even more unsurprisingly, half of his room was dedicated to lab equipment and various pictures of organisms he was studying. The other half was taken up by plants.

Bart coughed, his head tucked into his chest in embarrassment when Ryley pointed that out. “Sorry for the mess, you can leave your backpack here. I just need to tell my father where we’re—”

“Hey, kid!” came a woman’s voice, “Welcome home. Find anything new?”

Panic flashed in Bart’s eyes, but he mustered up a weak smile. “Oh. Good afternoon, Marguerit. It’s nice to see you today.”

Then the woman stepped into frame, her eyes sharp as they scanned over Ryley. “Who’s this? Wait… Is this the guy you’ve been—”

“Nope, that’s a completely different person,” Bart rushed. He took a deep breath before arranging his lips into a smile. “Ryley, this is Marguerit Maida, my family’s security guard. Marguerit, this is Ryley Robinson, my lab partner. He’s here to assist me in searching for fungi.”

“Really? He’s so short he might as well be fungi himself.”

Ouch. Ryley knew he wasn’t the tallest guy in town (not even close), but being roasted by a complete stranger hurt a little.

“Marguerit, please be nice,” Bart sighed. “Do you happen to know where Father is?”

Marguerit snorted and tossed her knife into the air, catching the handle with practiced precision. “Where he always is. Check the next room over.”

“Thank you. I’ll be back shortly.” And with that, Bart left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Ryley stared down at the floor and fidgeted with his fingers, unsure of what to do with himself while he waited. It seemed rude to take out his phone when there was another person in the room with him, but it seemed just as rude to not say anything. So what should he say?

Marguerit seemed to be in a much more comfortable state of mind than him, whistling as she tossed her knife up in the air and caught it by the handle. The blade twirled in the air, the silver shimmering under the ceiling lights. A few other knives were equipped into the toolkit around her belt. It seemed safe to assume she was proficient in the other knives as well.

And honestly? That might have been the coolest thing Ryley’s ever seen.

Marguerit caught his eye just as she caught the handle. “Say, kid, you wanna learn a knife trick?”

Ryley’s words caught in his throat. He settled for a nod.

“Don’t speak much, do you? That’s fine. Let’s have you using a butterfly,” Marguerit said. She rifled through her equipment before pulling out a short, silver knife with a taped blade. She handed it to him, her hand closing around his to adjust the placement of his fingers. She released her grip but still kept herself close by and pulled out a butterfly knife of her own. “Your hand’s on the safe handle. I’m teaching you an opening for now.”

Ryley nodded, his gaze focused squarely on the knife in his hand.

“So you have two handles that counter-rotate. The one you’re not holding is the bite handle. Hold both of them together like this.” Marguerit reached over to fix his position. “There you go. Next, you’re gonna flip the knife forward like this.” She flicked her wrist, sending the bite handle and blade rotating the other way. The bite handle dangled below her hand while the blade was pointed straight out.

Ryley imitated her movement. He hadn’t lost a finger yet, so he would count that as a win in his books.

“You twist the knife down so it kinda looks like a nunchuck.” She flicked her wrist so her pointer finger blocked the rest of the blade from hitting her knuckles.

His eyebrows furrowed. His movements were slow, but he completed the task anyway.

“Then you flip up. Get your fingers outta the way when you do.” And with that, the knife closed, and her hand closed around the two handles.

That was probably the easiest part of the lesson. Ryley flipped the knife up and wrapped his hand around the handles.

“Now you got it,” Marguerit said, her grin wide. She patted him on the back with such force he almost fell. “Now, look at me very closely.”

Ryley blinked but kept his eyes on her.

“Listen, kid, we both know what’s going on here. I ain’t gonna interfere. That’s not what I’m gettin’ paid for. But be mindful of this.” She swirled the knife in her hands, performing tricks Ryley was sure he couldn’t do even with ten years of practice, much less ten minutes. Her glare sharpened, and the spine of the knife was pressed against the skin of her neck. “You hurt him, and I tear your damn heart out.”

Ryley did not, in fact, have any clue what was going on. He hasn’t known that since centuries ago.

“... Hey, I practiced that, can you at least pretend to be a bit scared?”

Nope. He had no clue how to do so. Ryley nodded to show he had heard her.

“Right, I forgot about the whole stoic business… Bart really needs better taste in men.” Marguerit slipped her knives back into her toolbelt. 

Before Ryley could question what she meant by that, the door creaked open.

Bart stepped into the room, his face pale and his lips curved down into the first true frown Ryley had seen on him. His eyes were downcast. He was the embodiment of stormy weather, calm but solemn. The air felt dense, heavy around him.

Marguerit rolled her eyes. “Oh, great. What’d your idiot father say this time?”

“You shouldn’t say that so loudly,” Bart said.

“What’s he gonna do, fire me? He hasn’t done that for the past two decades—”

“Please, just… Father’s orders for you are to accompany my friend and I while we search for fungi.”

Marguerit opened her mouth to speak but seemed to think better of it. She scoffed and equipped a throwing knife. “Fine. I’ll trail you from half a mile behind.”

“Thank you.” Bart turned to Ryley with a smile not as brilliant as his previous ones. “Shall we go now?”

Ryley nodded, but a frown replaced his impartial expression as soon as Bart turned around. He wasn’t going to outright ask what was wrong; he wouldn’t know how to phrase it without sounding insensitive. But seeing someone so different from who they usually are… Ryley didn’t like it.

He followed as they walked into a forest.

 

* * *

 

The colors of the forest were nothing too special: various shades of brown, green, and some flairs of different colors. The trees were tall and dense, but not dense enough to block the sunlight from streaming through the gaps between the leaves. Pinestraw crunched beneath their feet. Birds ( _ familiar _ birds, Ryley noted) chirped and flew to different branches when they passed through.

“Have we found this before?” Ryley asked, nudging his foot towards a white mushroom with streaks of pink near the center.

Bart took one look at the mushroom before pulling him away from it. “That’s a deep shroom. If you handle it the wrong way, it can hurt you. I recommend staying away from it.”

“But have we recorded it?”

“... No? It’s acidic, and I don’t have the proper equipment for—” Bart grabbed the back of his collar before Ryley could fall prey to his impulses. His voice grew harsher. “Can you please just listen to me? I don’t need another person disregarding everything I say.”

Ryley’s heart sank. He turned back to Bart and tilted his head.

Bart locked eyes with him before sighing and looking away, running a hand through his hair. “... Sorry about that. I just had a disagreement with my father, and my mood’s been running all over the place since then. I’m sorry you had to witness that.”

A disagreement? What disagreement could have been so big it would dampen his mood to this degree?

Ryley couldn’t find anything to say. He reached out for his hand, hoping his support was conveyed.

Bart glanced down at the hand, then at the floor. “Right,” he murmured to himself, “We’re friends. I want to trust you with this.”

Ryley brushed his thumb against the back of his hand.  _ You can. _

“My father is the CEO of a big company,” Bart mumbled. His gaze stayed locked to the ground. “He wants me to take over when he retires, but I would rather be a biologist. Father says that’s a waste of time and all the resources he put into me.”

Ryley squeezed his hand.

“Please don’t get the wrong idea about him, he’s a good man. He just wants the best future for me. Our only conflict is what that best future entails.”

Ryley frowned. There was nothing he could do about the situation, that was between Bart and his father. All he could do was offer his support. There was no using nonverbal movements now—he needed to find words. But how?

Bart was silent, still staring holes into the ground. His grip on Ryley’s hand grew weaker and weaker.

Ryley weaved his fingers between the other’s, earning a tilted head and expectant expression. “I think, um…”

“Take your time—”

“That doesn’t matter right now. Y-You like doing this, right? Watching organisms? Studying their behavior?” His grip tightened. “Then do that. You don’t owe anyone anything, not even your father. I know it sucks disappointing people, but how would it feel to disappoint yourself?” 

Bart’s eyes were wide, and his mouth was slightly ajar. And just like when he found a new creature, his eyes shimmered with amazement, incredulity, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

Ryley shuffled his feet but found he was unable to tear his gaze away. The sheer intensity behind their eye contact kept him locked in place, wondering if he had overstepped his boundaries or said something insensitive.

Then Bart’s lips closed into a warm smile, and his voice was as soft as feathers. “Thank you. I really needed to hear that.”

Ah, fuck, all the words that were swimming around in Ryley’s head had suddenly drowned. Ryley finally looked away, studying the forest’s plants as planned while Bart rambled about some of the organisms he had found in the forest.

The rest of the expedition went as expected, save for the warmth enveloping his left hand.

 

* * *

 

_ “I think I’ve finally figured it out. _

_ Some chemicals in my brain—norepinephrine, dopamine, and endogenous opioids, as I’ve found out— are released when I’m near Ryley or even think about him. The norepinephrine is what causes my racing heart and other physical reactions. Dopamine, on the other hand, influences my mood. It’s what causes my mood to become brighter when being with or thinking about him. Endogenous opioids are yet another reaction in the rewards system that makes me enjoy… being infatuated. _

_ I’m infatuated with Ryley Robinson. Cindy called it a crush, but that name makes me feel even sillier. I’ve researched how to get rid of it, but… at the same time, I don’t want to. It makes me feel… fuzzy inside? I suppose? _

_ I don’t like chemistry anymore.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone on tumblr said something about ryley being a dumbass who almost cuts himself doing a knife trick in the game and i just. this man is an idiot i love him
> 
> also fungi are my least favorite kingdom of living organisms. fight me


End file.
